The wireless communication industry is experiencing unprecedented growth of demand for wireless communication capacity. Traditionally, growing capacity demands have been met by infilling or splitting existing macro cells, but this option is reaching its saturation point. In many dense urban areas, macro cells are very close to one another, making it nearly impossible to add more towers. Further, macro-only networks do not provide ubiquitous coverage, because they are built mainly for outside coverage of urban areas and major highways. The majority of cell phone usage today, however, occurs in indoor locations that can be challenging to cover. Macros are also not cost-efficient for rural locations, leaving these areas largely without coverage.
A new kind of network is required that can cost effectively provide ubiquitous coverage, along with the high-bandwidth capacity to deliver a superior quality of experience (“QoE”). The heterogeneous network (“HetNet”), provides this kind of next-generation network. HetNet combines existing wireless technologies, such as W-CDMA, LTE and Wi-Fi, with flexible radio access options, such as small cells. Small cells are low-power wireless access points with cell radius up to hundreds of meters. To effectively plan a small cell placement within current macro cell network, it is necessary to identify the traffic hotspots. Such mobile traffic hotspots can naturally occur in places where many people tend to crowd together such as bus, train or taxi stations, shopping centers and other public areas. Small cells can be strategically placed in such hotspot locations in order to effectively offload traffic from the corresponding macro cell.